The Story of Us
by Wen.Aria
Summary: As her family struggles, Dawn is sent to live with a distant relative who has no intention of housing her. Word has it that he never married and lives in isolation. Curious, Dawn stumbles across a room hiding the secrets of her great grandfather's past and memories that were long forgotten. First Fic. ORS,CS,PK
1. Chapter 1: Rosie's Granddaughter

Chapter 1: Rose's Granddaughter

~Dawn~

"I don't understand why I have to do this." Dawn said staring blankly out the car window and at the house in front of her.

They were parked in front of a rather large gothic farmhouse that looked like a house out of a Grim Brother's fairytale or even a Tim Burton film. It was rather charming if not creepy with the walls of the house shrouded with patches of moss and Ivy, untrimmed bushes and large oak trees helping to shroud and engulf the house. Dawn figured that the house hadn't been kept up with and lacked proper maintenance in years. The large circular driveway was littered with dead leaves and weeds that had sprouted from the ground.

Johanna sighed beside her, shutting the visor in front of her. "Look honey, things are looking pretty rough for us right now especially since your father decided to get married to that little secretary of his." She rolled her eyes. "And since he decided to cut us off from his life it means we have no other way of support."

Dawn stayed silent. Her mother absolutely hated her father. They had gotten a divorce when she was rather young and never really gotten a chance to get to know him. Even though they had gotten a divorce her father still provided some sort of support for them by keeping them a house and paying for Dawn's schooling. Unfortunately that came to an end when he decided to get engaged to a woman who was only a few years older than her and her father called to personally tell them that he was cutting them off to focus on his new family, enraging her mother.

Johanna moved them from Sinnoh all the way to Kanto to move in with her family but not the family that she was really expecting. Dawn found herself on the drive way of a distant relative that she really knew nothing about. Great Grandfather Gary Oak was his name; he was the younger brother of her Great Grandma Daisy and Grandma Rosie's uncle. That side of her family never really talked much about him since he basically isolated himself from everyone. The only time she had ever met him was when she was about four years old when he attended great grandpa Bill's funeral, but she was too young to know the significance at the time.

"This guy has money sweetheart. He could help us." Johanna said, snapping Dawn out of her thoughts. She couldn't help but feel sorry for this guy. What would he think when he found a strange young girl on his front porch claiming to be a long lost relative. She sighed as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and grabbed her suitcase from the back seat. Stepping out of the car she felt the satisfying crunch of leaves under her foot and watched as her mom rolled down the window.

"I'll be back in a few months sweetie. I love you." Dawn watched as she drove off leaving her in the middle of the driveway.

Dawn doubted that he would even acknowledge her as part of his family. After all they were barely related, their lines didn't even intersect, what made her mother think that this was going to work? She made her way up the steps of the front porch, jumping at the sound of the creaking wood that sounding like it was about to snap at any moment and rushed up to the doorbell. Her heart beat wildly as she rang it once and listened to it echo around the house. No answer. She rang it again, waiting another good minute before pressing it again.

'The doorbell obviously works.' She thought to herself. 'What if something happened?', 'What if no one lives here?', 'What if something happened to him and no one knows about it? He did live on the outskirts of town something must have happened!'

She began to panic at these thoughts, and frantically rang the doorbell until the door flung open reveling a rather irritated but otherwise well looking old man.

"Yeahh.. I heard you the first time!" He growled

Dawn was taken aback but was otherwise relieved that he wasn't dead. Dawn took him in.

'This must be Gary Oak.' She thought. He was a rather tall old man with thin grey hair and square wire glasses. In his hand held a small book, he must have been reading.

"I-I'm sorry." She apologized weakly "I was worried that something happened, I rang a couple times but no one answered."

"What do you want?"

"Um, my name is Dawn, I'm a relative of Rosie… her granddaughter actually." Dawn explained nervously.

"You're from Daisy's side of the family?" Gary asked questionably, his voice softening just a little bit.

"Yes sir."

He didn't respond but just looked at her for a while, before finally responding again.

"You look a little too young to be out here by yourself, where are your parents?"

"Well my mother went off to Hoenn in search of a job and won't be back for a couple of months. You see my parents are divorced and so she really couldn't afford to take me with her so she thought that-"

"She thought." Gary stated, sighing he continued. "Look, to be honest I haven't spoken to that side of the family in a very long time. There has to be someone else you can stay with, I'm sorry but I don't think it would be a great idea for you to stay here, I can't have some teenager I don't know running around here." He shut the door.

Dawn rang the doorbell again. "Wait please! Have no other place to go. I'm really sorry if this came out of the blue, but we're still family aren't we?! That has to count for something."

The door opened again, and Dawn felt some hope as he stepped out but was confused as he just placed as wad of cash in her hand before going back in.

"Here, use this and get out." He said shutting the door.

Just as that happened, the sound of thunder filled the sky signaling the arrival of rain.

"Great. Just Great." Dawn sighed feeling the chill of the wind. Rubbing her arms she suddenly dropped her backpack and pulled out a light pink hoody. There was absolutely no way that she could leave now, at least not while there was a storm coming.

Sitting on the steps, Dawn recalled her encounter with her 'grandfather'. He was a rather grumpy old man; but then again she was the one who interrupted his peace and quiet by ringing the doorbell so many times. But despite that it seemed like hearing her talk about her family struck a chord in him and she could see a small spark of interest appear before leaving.

She sighed, 'Maybe he's just lonely.'

She stared out at the sky and felt a wave of nostalgia hit her as she watched the sky turn a beautiful shade of pastel orange, pink and blue. Things have never really been all too great for her family; her parents divorcing at a young age hadn't affected her too much since her mother was the one who always took care of her unlike her father. She would recall the stories that her mother would tell her when she was young about how they met and fell in love but she realized that those were just stories. The reality was that love didn't last, they didn't love each other as much as they believed that they did leading to their downfall. Now her father was off marrying some other woman while Johanna is left to fend for the both of them.

Another sigh came out of her mouth as she continued to ponder these thoughts. She wondered if that's how it was for Gary.


	2. Chapter 2: Opened Doors

Chapter 2: Opened Doors

~Dawn~

Raindrops started to fall gradually as the sky turned from pastel to a dreary grey and Dawn couldn't help but find it fitting. At this point she would be sleeping with the mightyena and caterpies If the old man wouldn't let her in. This was all her mother's fault. Although she loved her mother to death, she wasn't ashamed to say that her mother was selfish. It was probably the only thing that both of her parent's really had in common. She knew her mother loved her, but her motives weren't the clearest sometimes, she had a lot of pride and it had taken her nine years after her divorce to stop depending on her ex-husband for support.

Breaking out of her thoughts she checked her phone and realized she had been outside for almost three hours and she was starting to get really hungry. She hung her head in shame feeling defeated. Stubbornness really ran in the family she thought, they were both fighting here to see who would cave first. Stubborn old man. At this point in time the rain started to get heavier soaking her clothes and making her hair cling to her face.

"Ohhh… My Hair…" Dawn whimpered getting up quickly and moving further inside the porch.

She heard the door behind her open, and she snapped her head to see him standing behind her, the door wide open and his face looking void of any emotion.

"Get inside." He said

Dawn smiled widely picking up her bags, squeezing past him and into his was much larger than she had imagined it to be. Looking around she saw that his home was filled with plenty of books and different artifacts and paintings. His floors were made of a dark rustic wood that seemed to fit the house's aesthetic that made it feel a lot more lonely she didn't know how he could live in such a large house all by himself.

"This is a lovely home, Mr. Oak." Dawn complimented, looking around in awe.

"Please, take off your shoes." He barked making Dawn comply rather quickly. She dropped her sneakers near the door awkwardly as Gary watched her with calculating eyes.

"Since you show no signs of leaving anytime soon, I'll allow you to stay in one of my spare rooms." He said walking away quickly.

Dawn picked up her bags and hurriedly followed him upstairs. He stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall and led her in.

"This will be your room." He mumbled leading her in. She placed her bags down and looked around the room. Really there wasn't anything special about the room with its bare cream colored walls and the single window, but nevertheless she was grateful.

"Um thank you, really!" She said now facing him. "I know this must really be a burden on you, taking in someone you don't know, but I really want you to know how grateful I am.

Rather than showing any emotion, he just grunted his acknowledgement and turned off to leave, shutting the door behind him, "Get some sleep." Was all that Dawn heard and her smiled widened. It was a start.

After a bit of tossing and turning that night Dawn decided that she couldn't sleep. The light of the moon had illuminated her room at 2am. She rolled over to grab her phone from the bedside table, still no messages from her mother. She was getting restless and this room wasn't really helping her out that much. Pushing the sheets off of her body, she jumped out of bed and tiptoed towards the door peeking out at the dark hallway. Absolute silence filled the house. It was like no one lived here. Turning on the flashlight from her phone she ventured off into the hall taking slow steps, careful not to make a sound and wake the old man. The house was huge, though it was a little scary at night. Fear crawled up her neck the more she explored as her thoughts got the best of her curious little mind and was startled when she came across a stuffed Ururang looking ready to pounce.

'What exactly does the old man do.' She thought, examining the statue briefly before moving along.

Walking further down the hallway, Dawn noticed that there were many doors lined along the hall, seven to be exact, most of which were spread apart and were mainly empty bedrooms or closets. At the end of the hall was a hidden alcove leading to another floor. Slowly making her way up she was met by a single door at the very top of the steps and was shocked to find It locked. What if this is where he kept his money? Or what if he kept other things up there? Pulling out a bobby pin, she started to fiddle with the locks and after a few minutes was able to successfully open up the room with a loud creek. Stepping inside she felt along the walls for the light switch but found nothing instead opting to use her flashlight to search her surroundings. Shutting the door behind her she saw multiple boxes and scattered along the floor as well as old wooden furniture. Walking towards the window, the front driveway came into view. So this was the attic.

'He has so much stuff up here.'

Dawn walked towards the middle of the room, coming into contact with a cold touch on her forehead. Jumping back she concealed a small scream as she looked up to see a silver string connected to a single lightbulb.

Light filled up the room and she could see all the dust that had accumulated on every flat surface. Excitement coursed through her body as she opened up her first box. Inside filled will old lab equipment that was quite outdated, and large textbooks with information on Pokémon evolutions, and old newspapers. Setting the box aside she noticed a piece of paper fly out and bent down to pick it up.

Examining it she saw it was a photo of a young woman with long dark brown hair and sapphire blue eyes. She was tall and slender with a shy yet playful smile gracing her lips as she posed for the camera. With one hand she held her hair down from the breeze that blew her hair around and with the other she was holding her a white sunhat. She was dressed simply in a plain sleeveless sundress, but she looked stunning. She knew it wasn't her Great Grandma Daisy from the pictures she had seen when she was younger. Her grandmother's hair was more of a sandy almost blonde shade of brown, while this girl's was darker in shade. The eyes were different two she remembered Grandma Rosie talking about her mother's beautiful blue eyes from her younger days before old age had gotten her and turned her vibrant blue eyes grey due to cataracts, this girl had more of a hazel/green hue to them. Could they have had another sibling? There was just so much to know about the Oak family, her family rarely ever mentioned their family and she was way far down the family tree to find any of this information relevant but it still interested her to no end. What secrets was the old man hiding? Looking back down at the picture she let the question hang in the air.

"Who is she?"


End file.
